CASH MICHAELS
CARLA, CARLA, CARLA
by Cash Michaels
Normally, I would consider this an open letter to a public figure whose recent off-the-wall behavior has left me wondering if they’re not one taco short of a combination plate, but I’ve already written one of those to Evangelist Franklin Graham, denoting the so-called “man of GOD’s” broad brush, inexplicable endorsement of all things Donald Trump.
But then there’s seven-term outgoing NC House Representative Carla Cunningham of District 106 (parts of north Charlotte and Mecklenburg County). You know…the same Carla Cunningham who, after serving her constituency as a “lifelong Democrat,” last week, formally announced that she had left the Democratic Party, and would serve out the remainder of her term as unaffiliated.
Yeah “unaffiliated” leaning Republican.
Here’s some of what she said in a statement:
“After four years of growing misalignment with party leadership and following her historic vote for the state budget that triggered Medicaid Expansion into law; Representative Cunningham has chosen to place the people above the party. “I have been a Democrat all my life, but I came to realize that I want to serve the people; not a party. Being an independent thinker does not align with party politics, and I will never compromise the needs of my constituents to satisfy a political agenda.”
Well for your information, Rep. Cunningham, political parties have platforms, on which they express the core values and policy priorities they share and will fight for if elected to office. Until four years ago, you were apparently in full agreement with the Democratic Party platform of freedom, justice, full employment and nondiscrimination.
Of course the Mecklenburg County GOP was thrilled with the news, saying in a statement that they express their “strong support” for your “courageous decision” and that you have “demonstrated true leadership.”
Did you write that crap about you for the Republicans, Carla? A little thick, don’t you think?
The classic case of a failed politician trying to act like a some kind of hero because her own two-faced sins caught up with her for betraying her party, her community and ultimately her constituency, ultimately ushering her behind out of office.
Rep. Cunningham says “After four years of growing party misalignment with party leadership…” meaning, I guess, that for the past four years, she and the NC Democratic Party have not seen eye-to-eye on various issues. I can understand how that can happen. But what you don’t do if you’ve been “a lifelong Democrat,” is start voting with the NC Republican House majority against the interests of your constituents, who elected you to seven terms as a Democrat to represent them and the issues they feel are important to them.
By the way, we’re talking about a Republican House majority that has never, EVER, done a damn thing to help the African-American community of this state, and in fact, has done everything to undermine our right and ability to vote, cripple our right to equal opportunity, and has followed the whims of that racist in Washington, DC.
Hell, voting along with wretched hyenas like these on the time of day is not, as you put it, Rep. Cunningham, “serving the people.” And you did it enough times to the point where no one but Republicans knew for sure if you could be counted on to vote with some common sense.
Voting with Republicans against the interests of your community is like voting with the Ku Klux Klan, in my opinion. Just because Democrats have gotten on your nerves. I know of no one except you who feels entitled to do such a thing.
So save the “… I want to serve the people; not a party. Being an independent thinker does not align with party politics, and I will never compromise the needs of my constituents to satisfy a political agenda…” routine. You made it plain and clear in a recent WBT radio interview that loyalty is not your better face.
“I’m transactional,” you said, Rep. Cunningham. “It’s business. It’s government doing business.”
You said that right after also boasting, “What’s beneficial to my constituents is that I serve them and prioritize what their needs are.”
Well not anymore, Homegirl! Displaying that low altitude attitude just got you in more trouble when you ended up being the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to override Gov. Stein’s veto of the controversial sweeping immigration enforcement bill HB 318, which compelled North Carolina’s sheriffs to hold undocumented immigrants for ICE agents.
WOW! Then to add insult to injury, you got up on the House floor and started saying ugly things about undocumented human beings that clearly made people wonder what kind of heart you really do have, and whether it beats or clangs against a metal interior.
In his April 1967 speech “The Other America,” Dr Martin Luther King, Jr…yes… I’m going there, said :
“In this America, millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily and search for jobs that do not exist. In this America, millions of people find themselves living in rat-infested, vermin-filled slums. In this America, people are pulled by the millions and they find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. In a sense, the greatest tragedy of this other America is what it does to little children. Little children in this other America are forced to grow up with clouds of inferiority forming every day in their little mental skies. And as we look at this other America, we see it as an arena of blasted hopes and shattered dreams. Many people of various backgrounds live in this other America. Some are Mexican-Americans, some are Puerto Ricans, some are Indians. Some happen to be from other groups. Millions of them are Appalachian whites.”
So in these remarks, Dr. King expresses concern for the plight of poor people beyond the black community. He is also known to support the efforts of heroic immigrant activists, and had he lived, Dr. King would certainly be against the illegal activities of ICE and Border agents today.
Last July at the legislature, you gave a speech on the House floor in favor of a veto override of HB 358 when you said, in part, “As a social scientist reports, all cultures are not equal.” “Some immigrants come and believe they can function in isolation, refusing to adapt.”
“If you ask me to line up behind another group of people to raise awareness about their plight,” you maintained, Rep. Cunningham, “I unapologetically say no.
Funny thing. Later on, when you realized you mouth wrote checks your hateful behind couldn’t cash, you actually did try to apologize.
Does Dr. King agree with you, that “all cultures are not equal?” If what you say is true about all cultures are not equal, then is black culture - a culture you and I share - “equal” with overall white American culture, and if so, how so? And if it is, then how is immigrant culture, whatever culture that immigrants may represent, NOT equal to black and white culture? Dr. King expressed concern for the children of “many people of various backgrounds [who] live in this other America,” noting Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Indians, and even Appalachian whites.
In other words, your tawdry words of hate have no explanation beyond exposing some dark and loathing sentiment that lurks deep in you that would make you a perfect Republican, but you didn’t join the NCGOP, did you? No you’re going to play silly games against your former party, and certainly against your governor with the time you have left in office, and then have the gall to call it “…never [compromising] the needs of my constituents to satisfy a political agenda.”
Probably why only 21.8 percent of your voting constituency voted in the March primary for you, and Democrat Rev. Rodney Sadler ran away with over 70% of the vote against you, meaning he will be sitting in your District 106 seat come January.
If I come off a little rough on you here, Rep. Cunningham, it’s because you deserve it. Openly expressing hatred for other people of color on the floor of our state House; voting with folks who have proven their ill will against our community to this very moment; acting as if the sun rises and sets with your very breath.
Just save us all the faux suspense, Carla, go all the way and join the NC Republican Party like your girl Tricia Cotham did. Apparently both of you enjoy singing the old “ NC Democratic Party has done me wrong” song. Why not sing it together with the time you have left in office?
If things were that bad, you could have just gotten out of politics and leave the headaches to someone else, instead of stabbing folks in the back. But no, you acted out and the switched because you put power over the people you serve, and wanted to prove to your party who you really are.
I know, I know, Rep. Nasif Majeed from around your neck of the woods in northeast Charlotte has also switched from Democrat to unaffiliated this week, and will finish out his term in office as such after also losing his seat in the March primary.
I’m not going to jump all over him, however, even though he also voted with the Republicans to override Gov. Stein on a different issue than immigration. Unlike you, Rep. Majeed did not take to the House floor acting ugly. In fact, in his statement, he said his switch was a matter of “principle, transparency, and accountability.”
I can live with that, as long as he can live with "the people have spoken."
Well, all of us have gotten your message, Carla. Why not try spending these last few months in office displaying some dignity, and truly standing up for the people you’re supposed to represent, instead of continuing to act like a spoiled child with your new Republican buddies who, if they had their way, would NEVER have supported you to run for office back in 2012 to begin with.
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